OUR VIEW: 'Art' is not beauty when it is splashed across someone else's canvas

Graffiti on the Brookwood overpass on U.S. 31 captures a sense of optimism that has been spreading in metro Birmingham. (The Birmingham News/Mark Almond)

Turns out there's a fine line between visionary and vandal.

At least in Birmingham, where the graffiti message "You Are Beautiful" has at times boosted a city's sagging spirits and reminded its residents to be grateful for loveliness they too often take for granted.

But artistic expression, and all the good intentions in the world, are not a license for felony.

And Birmingham's "You Are Beautiful" bandits have crossed the line.

As The News' Jeremy Gray reported this week, the so-called "graffiti artists" broke into the Highland Tower Apartments stairwell on a mission to paint one of their messages on the top of that building. They spilled paint on the cars of residents and left owners with a $4,000 clean-up bill.

Beauty is not just in the eye of the beholder. It is in the eye of the property owner, in the eye of the people who ultimately must pay the bill.

One would like to be romantic and hopeful, to dismiss the crime in the name of youthful exuberance, idealism and artistic sensibility. But we can't do that.

The director of operations at the apartment building called it "a regretful incident," and "a great thought, but the wrong delivery."

He is being polite, because the "You Are Beautiful" message resonates with so many.

But the truth is it was a crime that spilled -- literally -- on innocent bystanders.

The thought "You Are Beautiful" really is a great one. But it should never be scrawled, written or painted without permission on someone else's canvas.

It matters not its value or message. It matters not whether it is art or speech. It matters not whether it is beautiful in its own right.

The artists behind the You Are Beautiful campaign are known by many in this community. They have been interviewed on film and in print, they have appeared at government meetings and contracted to do commissioned work for area businesses.

Police, with any motivation at all, can find the people behind the paint brushes.

Maybe they should. We don't suggest the artists be carted off to jail or martyred. But they do need a good scolding.

And they do, at the least, owe those folks at Highland Tower Apartments about $4,000.